365 days of food

Chicken Pot Pie…. one of those dishes I have been wanting to make, but unable to convince my husband about. For years now he’s been telling me he hates it, and so I have held off. You may notice my husband claims to hate a lot of things… it has taken me years to get him to where he is now in regards to eating/trying new foods. Perhaps this is the answer to the mystery of why my kids are SO picky about food! When I met him he was a definite meat and potatoes kind of guy… and dreaded boxed meals. I assume his hate for chicken pot pie likely came from the fact that he had only had frozen versions before. I don’t think I have EVER had it, but it looks good to me so I have always been curious.

Well I figured I would meet him halfway this time and make this pasta I came across… after all he loves pasta, and I figured it would be less runny which I assumed to be one of the reasons he wasn’t a fan. I made the recipe as stated, except I used only 8 oz of mushrooms because I didn’t want to buy two containers or weigh my own because I was in a hurry. I ended up using 8oz of penne as well because I happened to have half a box left over from a previous recipe. To cut back on the calories and fat I did go with half and half, but I ended up adding a splash of cream at the end because it just didn’t seem thick enough. I feel like the amount of flour isn’t enough to thicken so much liquid, or perhaps I needed more time to simmer it (though I did for about 8-10 minutes). Anyway, it wasn’t as thick as I had hoped, but I didn’t mind serving this in a bowl to contain the extra liquid and towards the bottom of the skillet it got thicker because I had already spooned out so much of it in our bowls.

I felt this had a nice hearty and earthy flavor and it definitely satisfied that comfort food craving I have been had lately. I could have perhaps used a bit more salt and pepper but I was trying to not go overboard since I know my tastes differ from Jeff’s in that department. I think what I was really wanting though was a nice buttery salty flaky biscuit to go with it…. Now I really want to try a more traditional Chicken Pot Pie! It was still a great meal though IMO. When I asked my husband what he thought he tried to stick to his guns and say he didn’t care for it. But I think the 2 1/2 heaping bowls he consumed, and then licked clean would argue otherwise. The most I could get out of him was that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be from what he remembered. Whatever, I will let him keep denying it, but I WILL be making the real thing sooner than later!

On a little side note… does anyone else hate cutting onions as much as I do?!?! I have tried so many tricks I have read about and I just can’t keep from crying. And I am not talking about a bit of eye watering, but full on painful burning eyes with so many tears I can’t see to cut them. I need to start cutting onions before I put my make-up on for the day lol.

Chicken Pot Pie Penne

Ingredients :

2 T. unsalted butter or olive oil (I used 1 and 1)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

10 oz. white or cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced (I used 8 oz.)

1 T. all purpose flour

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 cup half and half or heavy cream

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded into bite sized pieces

1 cup frozen peas and carrots mix

1 T. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. minced fresh thyme

1-2 cups whole wheat dry penne pasta (I used 8 oz.)

Directions :

Cook the pasta according to package directions. When done, place hot penne pasta in a large bowl and set aside.

Melt the better (or oil if using) in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook onion, garlic and mushrooms in the skillet until golden brown.

Sprinkle in the flour over the mushroom mixture in the skillet and stir. Cook for a few seconds to rid the floury smell then add the broth, half & half (or heavy cream) to the skillet. Deglaze the skillet, scraping up any bits of fond at the bottom of the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered until the liquid is slightly thickened.

Add the chicken, frozen peas and carrots mix, lemon juice, and thyme to the skillet. Cook until heated through and season with salt & pepper to taste. Place the hot penne pasta into the skillet and toss to combine. Add the cooked penne pasta and toss to coat pasta.

This looks great – going to give it a try this weekend! And yes i HATE cutting onions and i hate eating large chunks of onions. My trick is to grate it into the recipe. I find i can quickly grate half an onion before my eyes start to bother me:) trick is to grate fast. All the yummy flavour of the onion with the yucky chunks!

I have tried grating before, but ended up with even more onion liquid getting in my eyes lol. Maybe I wasn’t doing it well. I also prefer the chunks to the wet grated onion in most things, but for sure it would be good for certain recipes. Hope you like the dish!

Refrigerate your onion, 20 to 30 minutes before you need to cut it. Also, never cut the root end off the onion, when you cut the root the onion releases sulfur, the thing that makes you cry..Love your recipes…

Thanks I will try that! I do often refrigerate onion when I have left over and I think they still make me cry, but I also think it’s possible the non-refrigerated ones are the worst! I usually leave the root end intact other than to cut it in half when slicing. And I am glad you are enjoying my blog!